Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Knowledge about Higher-Order Thinking Skills

Veronika Fitri Rianasari,Maria Suci Apriani

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1366/1/012083

Veronika Fitri Rianasari, Maria Suci Apriani

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1366/1/012083

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Abstract

Mathematics learning should be designed to develop students’ higher order thinking skills. A deeper understanding of higher-order thinking will support teachers to be able to design mathematics learning that promotes students’ higher-order thinking skills. The purposes of this research are to describe pre-service mathematics teachers’ knowledge about Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and their ability in designing HOTS-based problem. The research participants are 9 pre-service mathematics teachers joining profession education for pre-service teachers at Sanata Dharma University. Data sources in this research include a written test about teachers’ understanding of HOTS and a written test about teachers’ ability to design HOTS-based problem. The analysis of data involved Miles & Huberman model. Qualitative results showed that pre-service mathematics teachers were not able to associate the cognitive demands of HOTS-based problem with the dimension of cognitive processes of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. Besides, almost all the pre-service teachers were not able to design a non-routine problem, they tended to design a familiar application problem that requires students to memorize facts, concepts, or procedures that have been done before and apply them to the context. Based on the results, can be concluded that pre-service teachers’ knowledge about HOTS and their ability to design HOTS-based problem are very low.

Highlights

Education has evolved to meet the challenges of the 21st century
The pre-service teachers were asked about the meaning of higher order thinking skills, the relationship between Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and levels of cognitive learning according to the revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy, and the characteristics of HOTS-based problem
Some of them defined HOTS as an instrument to test or know the level of thinking of students, others defined HOTS as a demand for high thinking, and the rest of pre-service mathematics teachers defined HOTS as a thinking ability which consists of various levels in solving a problem

Summary

Introduction

Education has evolved to meet the challenges of the 21st century. There are three main frameworks of 21st century skills, namely 1) learning and innovation skills, 2) life and career skills, and 3) information, media, and technology skills [1]. One of the abilities that is very important to be considered by teachers in 21st century learning is higher order thinking. Higher order thinking is a way of thinking at a higher level than memorizing This mental skill was initially determined based on Bloom's Taxonomy which categorized the cognitive domain, from the lowest to the highest, namely knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. This cognitive domain was later revised by Lorin Anderson, David Krathwohl, et al in 2001 [2]. The order of thinking levels was changed to remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. While analyzing, evaluating, and creating are categorized as high-level thinking skills (HOTS)

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